My mom had to explain my birthday to me with fractions. Fractions. Now just try to imagine this for a moment: a young toddler, who knows she has a birthday coming up, but is unable to locate it on the calendar. In elementary school, my classmates had their birthdays marked on the class calendar with a gold star, which glittered throughout the year. But mine wasn't anywhere to be found. My mom tirelessly tried to provide some sort of reasoning, any explanation at all for the inexplicable. The tilt of the earth, the sun, the seasons, the Aztec calendar, whatever she could come up with. The Fractions. But when that simply wasn't enough, I would be given the stock, safe, and defeated answer: Rach you're just special. I still remember being unable to hold in my tears.

But as I reflect now on my first memories and and sheer confusion regarding my birth date, I can't help but smile. Because it's here this year, it's here! When I tell people I haven't had a birthday since I was sixteen, they double take. They wince. They wonder. You poor thing. That's terrible! What a shame. The plethora of pity I have received over the years is astounding. But the truth is, I don't see this as a bad thing. Because, just as it was four years ago, it's here again!

You see, the thing is, I've always felt different. I mean not many can say their birthdays are not of the annual sort. Maybe there weren't gold stars, maybe the calendar neglects to acknowledge my birth some years and not others. Maybe Facebook is still somewhat unsure of how to approach my existence. Yes, I've felt different, but never deprived. No, my family does not neglect the celebration, nor do I forgo cake three out of the four years. But the years I can mark my calendar are all the more special.

I'm sure I will continue to be the brunt of jokes for years to come. I will always be told I am a toddler, a youngster, that I won't live past 25, and that I've got a long way to go before I can drive. Hell, I'm celebrating age 5 this year, as so many people take pleasure in reminding me of. But I really don't mind the jokes, to be honest. I don't know if I'd go as far to say as I wouldn't be me without my birthday, but this day has become a part of who I am, and I am happy it is a part of my unique self-identity.